


with shortness of breath i'll explain the infinite

by rileynoah



Series: #DanversSistersWeek [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Charator Injury, To Be Continued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 22:58:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11931096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileynoah/pseuds/rileynoah
Summary: Day Two of #DanversSistersWeek: "I got you."A building collapses with the Danvers' at the heart.





	with shortness of breath i'll explain the infinite

**Author's Note:**

> fucken angst ya'll i ain't even sorry everyone cry together now
> 
> Mad props to [Olive](http://404artnotfound.tumblr.com) for the beta.
> 
>  
> 
> [catch me on tumblr.](http://letswreakhavoc.tumblr.com)

There is screaming all around her. 

Rubble and smoke.

But it all seems muted.

She realises with a start that there is no screaming. Her ears are ringing loudly, and her breath wheezes from her chest, but that’s all she can hear.

She battles with her eyelids, trying to force them open. She has to figure out where she is, figure out what’s going on. Why it’s so dark.

“Alex.”

It sounds like Kara. But surely it can’t be. Kara wasn’t there before… Before.

“Alex, please.”

It’s a whimper. A plea. And it sounds so much like her that Alex’s body complies without a second thought. She cracks an eye open, immediately flinching at the dust that invades her senses.

“Thank Rao.” Kara huffs. It is Kara. Alex can see her blonde hair, her blue suit.

“Wha’ happened?” She asks and god, is that what her voice sounds like?

It’s slurred and heavy, she almost sounds drunk.

“The building… it collapsed around us.” Kara explains quietly. Her voice sounds strained, like she’s holding something up and-

Oh.

She is holding something up.

She’s holding the building up.

Her arms are shaking under the weight of the concrete, and the majority of it rests on her shoulders. Her head is bent down under the awkward angle she’s holding it, but she can shift her eyes enough to catch Alex’s eye.

“Can you move?” Alex asks.

Kara shakes her head. No.

“Alex, I need you to stay calm.” Kara whispers, a pained look in her eye. “Okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“The adrenaline is probably keeping you from feeling the pain, but you’re going to notice it in a second.” Kara explains.

What had happened?

Alex frowns at her sister. Then she starts mentally checking her body, from her head to her-

Shit.

_Fuck._

She manages to bite back her scream at the last second. Loud noises are exactly what Kara doesn’t need right now, but _fuck,_ her leg is screaming in pain. She grunts, biting down on the inside of her cheek and tasting blood.

It takes her a minute to be able to pull herself together enough to look.

There’s a piece of rebar through her left thigh, sticking out of the top by three inches.

Her groaning gets louder.

“Alex, _please.”_ Kara begs. “You’ve got to stay calm. I can’t-”

She’s cut off by a sob, and the concrete slab she is holding up trembles threateningly. It’s enough for Alex to rein herself back in, to bite back the groans of pain that keep bubbling to the back of her throat.

“It’s going to be okay.” Kara promises, voice wavering. “They’re coming. I can hear them.”

“H-how far away are t-they?” Alex asks. She can barely force the words out without yelping in pain. She has to fight against her body tensing the muscles in her leg. It’s only going to make it worse.

“I can’t tell.” Kara murmurs. “Did your phone survive? You could call them.”

Alex fumbles through her pockets, unable to find her phone until she realises.

It’s in her back left pocket.

“Kara.” Alex whimpers.

“Yeah, Alex?”

“It’s in my back left pocket, I’m going to have to move to get it.” Alex tells her. She doesn’t receive a verbal response, and glances up to see Kara nodding, gritting her teeth.

“Just-” Kara takes a deep shuddering breath. “Tell me when.”

Alex counts down from three, then arches her back up to slide the phone out of her pocket. She yells the entire way through. When she’s back on the ground, she groans heavily, forgetting all about her phone.

“Kara.” Alex slurs. “Is my leg broken?”

Some shuffling, some silence.

“No.” Kara responds. “By some miracle it’s missed pretty much everything important. You’ll make a full recovery once we’re out of here.”

“If we get out of here.” Alex mutters, always the pessimist.

“Don’t say that, Alex.” Kara chastises. “The phone.”

Alex nods, picking up the device and wiping off the dust on her shirt. She hits the home button, and the screen lights up. Thank God.

She dials J’onn first, putting it on speaker phone. He picks up on the first ring.

_“Alex?”_

“I’m here. So is Kara.”

_“Where are you?”_

“Right at the center, J’onn.” Kara answers this time. “I’m holding up most of the building, I can’t move.”

_“Are you alright?”_

“I’m alright. Alex is going to need medical attention.”

_“How bad?”_

“She’s bleeding a lot, J’onn.”

The conversation seems muffled, and Alex realises that she must be losing a lot of blood. She can barely keep her eyes open, her entire body feels sluggish. The panic starts to set in.

“Alex.” Kara warns. “Alex, don’t panic. Deep breaths.”

Alex tries. God, she tries. But it’s like all the air has been ripped from her lungs. Her leg is screaming, her back is aching from the position she’s in, her lungs feel raw from the dust and debris she’s been inhaling.

“J’onn, is Maggie there?”

_“She’s on her way.”_

“Hear that, Alex?” Kara tries desperately. “Maggie’s on her way.”

_“We’ll have you out within the hour, just hold tight.”_

“Alex.” Kara tries. “Focus on me, focus on my voice. Can you see how much battery the phone has?”

It takes her almost a minute to fumble enough with the phone, trying to calm her shaky hands, to get a read.

“52 percent.” Alex coughs. Her throat is raw, and every breath drags against it like gravel.

_“I’m going to hang up. Conserve as much battery as you can, in case we take longer than expected.”_

“Okay. Hurry, J’onn.”

_“We will.”_

The call terminates, and silence falls around them again.

Well, as silent as it can get with Alex’s ragged breaths. After a moment, Kara’s murmuring starts back up. Alex can’t quite separate the words, the sentences blurring into one another as black starts to curl around the edges of her vision. The passage of time seems non-existent, and she can’t tell how long it has been when Kara’s voice startles her out of her daze.

“Alex, don’t go to sleep.”

“I’m t-trying.” Alex groans. She wants to shout, to yell that she _knows_ she can’t sleep. But she’s just so tired. Her eyelids are getting heavier by the second, and her chest feels tighter. Maybe if she just rests her eyelids-

“Alex, open your eyes.” Kara commands gruffly. 

“Kara, I’m tired.” Alex drawls, her eyelids drooping lower. “I’m s-sorry. I can’t.”

“Yes you can.” Kara presses.

“I love you.” Alex fights back a sob. She’s feeling weaker by the second. Her leg screams in pain but the rest of her body feels oddly numb, if she could just shut her eyes for a second. If she could just rest. "Tell Maggie too, p-please."

“Don’t you dare, Alex. Look at me.” Kara cries.

Alex has to fight to get her gaze focused on Kara. The concrete is still resting on her shoulders, but she has sagged down even further now, barely holding the weight up. Her arms are still trembling, and her eyes are shiny with tears.

“Don’t you dare close your eyes on me.” Kara’s voice shakes, and the tears fall into the dust by her feet. “You’re going to keep your eyes open, and we’re going to get out of here. We’re going to get you stitched up, then we’ll go home and you’re going to snuggle up between me and your girlfriend and we’re going to watch trashy movies together until you fall asleep.”

“Kara.”

“You are not going to die, you hear me? It’s just a piece of metal, when has anything like that ever held you down, huh?”

It’s that moment that Alex realises something else has to be wrong. They haven’t been under the building all that long, and the rebar should be holding a fair amount of the blood inside of her body. She shouldn’t be this groggy, right? She can’t even recall enough of her training to figure it out. She’s just so fucking tired. The concrete on Kara’s shoulder trembles heavily, and her shoulders hunch lower. 

“Keep your eyes open, they’re almost here.” Kara says. “It’s getting lighter.”

How long has it been? Surely the phone call only ended a moment ago, and they were still over an hour out. They’re trapped under eight stories of rubble, they can’t be that fast.

“It’s been an hour and a half, Alex.” Kara murmurs.

Did she say all of that out loud?

“Yeah, you did.” Kara sniffs. “Just a little longer.”

Then the rubble starts to shift, and Kara’s back straightens a little. The weight is getting lesser, and then light starts filtering in. The first glimpse she gets is of green skin.

J’onn.

Next, there is a crop of black hair and strong arms encased in blue taking the weight away from Kara’s shoulders.

Clark.

The minute the weight is off of Kara’s shoulders, she snaps to Alex’s side, leaning over to brush the hair away from her brow.

“See? We’re out. We’re okay.” Kara sniffs, wiping away tears before they can fall.

“Kar-” Alex slurs, eyes rolling into the back of her head. Everything is blurry and she can’t make out Kara’s face anymore. Something is wrong.

“Alex, stay with me. We’re going to get you off this rebar and I’ll fly you straight to the DEO okay? Just hold-”

“Supergirl.” J’onn calls gruffly. “Her head.”

Something is wrong. Alex can just barely see Kara pulling her hand away from her head.

It’s covered in blood.

She must have hit her head when the building came down. It wasn’t just the blood loss that’s been making her groggy. The back of her head throbs, and she knows it’s not just a headache from the collapse anymore. Something is wrong.

“Her skull is fractured.” Kara panics, hands fluttering uselessly around Alex's face. “She’s still bleeding. We have to get her to the DEO now.”

“I got you, Alex.” Kara whispers.

The last thing Alex feels is the feather light press of Kara’s lips against her forehead.

Then everything goes black.

**Author's Note:**

> DO NOT FRET MY FRIENDS. I'll be continuing this story for the day seven prompt; "She's my best friend."
> 
> so get strapped the fuck in cause it'S EVEN ANGSTIER.


End file.
